DePauw Again Among USA's Top Producers of Fulbright Awards

October 28, 2013

For the third consecutive year and for the seventh time in the last eight years, DePauw University is listed among the American colleges and universities that produce the most Fulbright Scholars. The list of top producers of 2013-14 Fulbright U.S. Students was issued by the U.S. Department of State and appears in the October 28 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. It notes that five DePauw graduates received Fulbright Awards to study and live abroad for the current academic year -- the most among any liberal arts college in Indiana -- and that 17 students at the University applied for the prestigious grants.

The University was also cited as one of the USA's top producers of Fulbright Fellows in the 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 listings.

Additionally, three alumni of DePauw received Fulbright awards for 2012-13. Ian B. Davidson, a professor in the School of Music at Texas State University and 1980 graduate of DePauw University, will visit Tumaini University Makumira in Tanzania two times as a visiting Fulbright Scholar. Juliana O. Odetunde, a medical student at the University of Kentucky and 2007 graduate of DePauw, is using a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship to study leptospirosis in Salvador, Brazil. John R. Chittum, a 2006 graduate of DePauw and a doctoral student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, is utlizing a Fulbright Graduate Student Research Grant to conduct research at the Royal College of Music, Sweden’s largest college of music.

The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. More than 1,800 U.S. students, artists and young professionals in more than 100 different fields of study have been offered Fulbright Program grants to study, teach English, and conduct research in over 140 countries throughout the world beginning this fall. Lists of Fulbright recipients are available at: www.fulbrightonline.org/us.

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 325,000 participants -- chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential -- with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. In the past 67 years, more than 44,000 students from the United States have benefited from the Fulbright experience.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The primary source of funding for the Fulbright Program is an annual appropriation made by the United States Congress to the Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations and foundations in foreign countries and in the United States also provide direct and indirect support. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, composed of 12 educational and public leaders appointed by the President of the United States, formulates policies for the administration of the Fulbright Program, establishes criteria for the selection of candidates, and approves candidates nominated for awards.

In the United States, the Institute of International Education administers and coordinates the activities relevant to the U.S. Student Program on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships.

The Fulbright Program also awards grants to U.S. teachers and faculty to conduct research and teach overseas. In addition, some 4,000 new foreign Fulbright students and scholars come to the United States annually to study for graduate degrees, conduct research and teach at U.S. universities, colleges and secondary schools.